Sorry, another newbie what £500 Halfords MTB

Charlie.

Hello...

First off apologise for yet another what MTB from Halfords, but being a relative newbie (36yo last on a "bike" was when I was 13 riding a Raleigh Arena lol)

I have signed up for the works c2w scheme they have in conjinction with Halfords, and today I popped into my local branch in Airdrie - you chap was ver helpfull and recommended the Carrera Fury 09 for my price range of £500 plus £75 for accessories.

I also had a look at the GT Aggressor XC1 09 - but was assured the bargain was with the Fury.

Ay views, pointers, recommendations would be great - bear in mind it's Halfords only though - and with the 20% off just now, I was looking to order it asap.

My journey to work is roughly 10 miles all in, mostly road - occassional rough grassed area during summer - plus occassional weekend leasure runs with the wee one. (not into big jumps etc YET )

Cheers

Charlie

supersonic

Whatever feels best out of them two - both good bikes with great equipment. You can't go wrong with the value here!

Andy B

both bikes you mentioned are good, try them out for size & see which feels best

The Fury does have a bit better spec IIRC

ilovedirt

if i were you i'd go for the gt, unless you can get LAST year's carrera fury, they have got rid of the best bit this year, the forks, and replaced them with SR suntour. The GT has pretty similar spec but with better (marzocchi forks)

NatoED

the forks on the 09 fury are better than RS tora 318s . they are lighter and more durable (just check the review on here) . Plus you get 15Qr which will (apparently) be the standard size for QR in the furture. Other than that they are the same bike but 1/2 pound lighter due to the fork change. RS are very over priced a set of RS toras are £245 rrp but trade is £98. Yeah that's over %100 mark up for twain mass produced stuff that have dodgy compression dampers made of cheese. at least SR are fair a mark up percentage. Epicons are £280 rrp and £170 trade getting alot more for your money being air fork and all. Also remenber that SR make forks for Marzocchi. (it has SR suntour written inside) .

I know this as I work in the a shop . TBH i won't get a set of RS at the moment . I'll stick to my Magura forks . %100 German and %100 great value for money . Beside them i'd get SR's or whyte Bros

ilovedirt

i'll never buy sr suntour again after my experiences with my last pair. Ever.
Also, i've not experience with those particular suntour forks, but i paid £125 for a pair of rockshox tora 318s a few months ago and they're great forks. Kick suntour's ass.

NatoED

correction 230 rrp on this years epicons and trade is £150

ilovedirt

christ, i'd never pay that for a pair of suntours

NatoED

well people pay £800 cos it's got zoccchi on it but it's made by SR suntour. you realise that your RS are in fact Spinner forks?

NatoED

Sram have stopped using spinner as a manufacture but still use the systems that Spinner helped to create in the forks.

ilovedirt

i don't care, fact is they perform better than any suntours i've used.

NatoED

fact is .......the ones you bought were crap . Fact RS are great if they come with a bike but other than that they are over priced , over complicated and prone to premature seal and bushing wear as well as faulty damping units in ALL their range. I'd hate to count how many i've had to repair or send back to fishers from the box (literally from opening the box) . Suntours are made by highly skilled people in twain that work in a factory; next to people trained to the same standard with the same quality parts, made by the same 3rd party companies but put different stickers on the different shape forks.
Internally they are similar but SR suntour use a less complicated and reliable system . The epicon fork is on level ground with tora forks money wise but out strip it on weight , durability, stiffness , ability to tune to rider needs and longevity.

NatoED

i only have 14 year experience to draw from , 14 years of building up my own bikes. 14 years repairing my own bike servicing my own forks and breaking my own parts. 14 years of sifting through the hyper drivel put out by companies and making educated decisions based on my own and other peoples experiences. I've seen all the fads , the whims and mistakes (thats why I won't buy marzocchi any more)

ilovedirt

i agree, that £250 LIST PRICE is pretty expensive for toras, but i paid £125 for them, and for that price they perform well, have good features, and as of yet. have not broken. I agree the fact that they are air forks is good price-wise, as my toras are a little under-sprung, but after my previous experiences with suntour, i won't be buying them again.

supersonic

NatoED wrote:

the forks on the 09 fury are better than RS tora 318s . they are lighter and more durable (just check the review on here) . Plus you get 15Qr which will (apparently) be the standard size for QR in the furture. Other than that they are the same bike but 1/2 pound lighter due to the fork change. RS are very over priced a set of RS toras are £245 rrp but trade is £98. Yeah that's over %100 mark up for twain mass produced stuff that have dodgy compression dampers made of cheese. at least SR are fair a mark up percentage. Epicons are £280 rrp and £170 trade getting alot more for your money being air fork and all. Also remenber that SR make forks for Marzocchi. (it has SR suntour written inside) .

I know this as I work in the a shop . TBH i won't get a set of RS at the moment . I'll stick to my Magura forks . %100 German and %100 great value for money . Beside them i'd get SR's or whyte Bros

Where do I start here. First it is not best practice on a forum to quote trade prices. 100% German means bugger all. As does made in Taiwan. RS forks, recently, have just about the best bushing wear in the business. As do the seals. But I grant you that there is a small percentage of dampers that have failed. Not quite as many Suntours that have had failed seals and bushings...

The Epicon is a good fork. The Tora 318 is a better fork.

"The epicon fork is on level ground with tora forks money wise but out strip it on weight , durability, stiffness , ability to tune to rider needs and longevity."

The air version is equal or better on all counts.

Northwind

Rockshox make the Dart 1, and it'sjust as rubbish as anything Suntour can be blamed for, so would you write off all Rockshox?

I'd still try and get the 08 model mind, I know and trust Toras but I don't know these Epicons. They might be great, they might not but I know Tora 318s are great.

NatoED

yeah your right there about the trade thing but I'm fed up of the name followers rubbishing stuff because it has the wrong name on it .

saracen fan

wow.......that escalated quickly!

ilovedirt

NatoED wrote:

yeah your right there about the trade thing but I'm fed up of the name followers rubbishing stuff because it has the wrong name on it .

I'd rather buy a reputable brand such as rockshox than chance it with something that may or may not be absolute crap.